i received RIAA lawsuit! what should I do?
By Yahoo User • Category: Copyrights LawsuitI’m studyin in Indiana and I received an email today from RIAA about the copyright infringement and that I have to pay $3000.00 to settle it! anyone with experience? or any expert advise?I’m an international student and I downloaded the music back then when I have not been here. Unfortunately my p2p software uploads song because I did not stop sharing. Advise?by the way the email was sent by my university with an attachment of the letter. Apparently, it was stated in the mail, the attachment is a copy of the letter that was sent through the mail
First of all, make sure it’s from a real record company and not from a scam artist. Did you download free songs? Or did you sell them? Get a lawyer if necessary, or go to legal aide foundation or your school’s law school.
You need to consult an attorney — NOW!An email is not an official document, so you are not legally obligated to pay anything. However, I am assuming that the gist of the email was, “pay this amount or we will sue” or language to that effect.An attorney can assist you. And lately many of these cases have been thrown out by the courts, so you have a much better chance than when the RIAA first started these tactics.Let me reiterate — CONSULT AN ATTORNEY NOW!
You r hosed…….. they will give you the choice of paying the 3000 or they will sue you for 10’s of thousands…they usually win
If it were real it would have been served to you VIA Snailmail Certified Mail in a paper document. E-mail is not an acceptale medium to serve a notice of a law suit. i In the event that it was real (and could be sent via e-mail) they would not put a dollar amount as that has gotten them into trouble before, making an outrages damage sclaim will give you an easy way out of the law suite (ask any lawyer) . Usually they can only prove you stole 1 or 2 songs that they own the copyright to. The cost of damages for you stealing a cd worth of songs is in the area of 15 -20 dollars (if that much) . If it is legit I suggest you get a lawyer and counter sue! Their discovery process is flaky at best and they are having hard time proving that one particular person stole a particular song. if they cannot prove that you violated a copyright then you might be able to sue them for your legal fees amongst other things. And a big FYI., Just because you made the music available for download does not mean you violated a copyright. A judge in one of these cases just set a precedent that just because a file was available for download on your computer does not mean it was downloaded and unless they can pinpoint the actual transaction of the song from your pc to another they cant charge you with anything . Its BS , they are using a scare tactic and trying to get un educated jury’s to award them large settlements in an attempt to compensate their income from what they feel is lost revenue due to illegal music downloads. the fact is that no accurate numbers have been produced to show how much the music industry has lost from illegal downloads if any. the fact is a lot of people download a song or 2 and if they decide they like it they buy the cd or purchase the album from tunes or the likes. there is a very small percentage off people that actually steal all their music . But hits a problem for the music industry because thanks to p2p and bittorrent and usenet, people can sample a few tracks from the cd and find out there is only 1 or 2 songs that are actually good on the cd. so they don’t buy it. That is the music industries fault for producing crap and trying to force-feed it to the public. they are still under the assumption that they control who is successful or not. the fact is that with myspace and other site like it a lot of armature musicians are moving their way up the ranks of the music industry with out ever having to sign a contract with a record company , people are hearing music an deciding if they like ti for themselves, where as before you only had a choice of what the record companies decided you should here.
They’re supposed to send letters, usually certified; and usually after a formal warning. I would be suspicious of an email. High scam potential. But for sure, get a lawyer involved. There are several out there who specialize in this. Many volunteer. If you have downloaded songs, the RIAA needs to prove they’re actually “protected” songs and not just political rants or manifestos with names that look like songs. If you were sharing copyrighted material, then you’re in a little hotter water because they save the file content they took from you. I’ve not heard of one of these cases actually going to trial and suspect the RIAA wouldn’t prevail because libraries make available protected material every day. Still, the threat of a lawsuit is intimidating and even if you settle there’s no guarantee that the artists won’t come after you down the road. Good luck.
You need to hire local counsel. You can find one at the first link below. It will be expensive. However, if you received this e-mail, then other students at your school have as well. If you can identify each other, then you can pool your resources and manage to keep some of your legal bills down.Aditionally, since it is likely you are not alone, and P2P file-sharing is common among college students, there may be great sympathy for you amongst your peers and thus the ability to hold fundraisers to pay your legal fees.The RIAA is out to make money, and it is - lots of it. (Send an e-mail, get $3,000.00.) It is far less interested in actually spending money on attorneys. The RIAA has lost many suits, which is why it demands an amount too low for most people to bother hiring an attorney to defend themselves. The defense is more than it costs just to pay. However, if your fellow classmates and you organize and fight them, and raise the funds to do so, then the RIAA will not make money from you, and it will loose interest in suing you.One last thing: depending upon Indiana law and the exact statements made in any complaint filed in court against you, you may be entitled to attorney’s fees if you win (the RIAA has to pay for your defense). If that is the case, then many attorneys will be interested in defending you.I’m a Florida attorney. I am not licensed to practice in Indiana, so I cannot help you.